Getting Started

Controlling Command Window Input and Output

So far, you have been using the MATLAB command line, typing functions and expressions, and seeing the results printed in the Command Window. This section describes

• The format Function, to control the appearance of the output values
• Suppressing Output
• Entering Long Statements
• Command Line Editing

The format Function

The format function controls the numeric format of the values displayed by MATLAB. The function affects only how numbers are displayed, not how MATLAB computes or saves them. Here are the different formats, together with the resulting output produced from a vector x with components of different magnitudes.

Note    To ensure proper spacing, use a fixed-width font, such as Courier.

• x = [4/3 1.2345e-6]
  
  format short
  
     1.3333    0.0000
  
  format short e
  
     1.3333e+000  1.2345e-006
  
  format short g
  
     1.3333  1.2345e-006
  
  format long
  
     1.33333333333333   0.00000123450000
  
  format long e
  
     1.333333333333333e+000    1.234500000000000e-006
  
  format long g
  
     1.33333333333333               1.2345e-006
  
  format bank
  
     1.33          0.00
  
  format rat
  
     4/3          1/810045
  
  format hex
   
     3ff5555555555555   3eb4b6231abfd271
  

If the largest element of a matrix is larger than 10³ or smaller than 10^-3, MATLAB applies a common scale factor for the short and long formats.

In addition to the format functions shown above

• format compact
  

suppresses many of the blank lines that appear in the output. This lets you view more information on a screen or window. If you want more control over the output format, use the sprintf and fprintf functions.

The find Function

Suppressing Output